Voting to Hire a Chief Without Meeting Him — The mystery isn't why Hewlett-Packard is likely to part ways with its chief executive, Léo Apotheker, after just a year in the job. It's why he was hired in the first place. — The answer, say many involved in the process, lies squarely with the troubled Hewlett board.

Congress doesn't get Google, and it doesn't get Congress — Is Google evil? Members of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights tried to decide that today in a hearing on Google's market power and whether it is beneficial for consumers or not.

‘Stingray’ Phone Tracker Fuels Constitutional Clash — For more than a year, federal authorities pursued a man they called simply “the Hacker.” Only after using a little known cellphone-tracking device—a stingray—were they able to zero in on a California home and make the arrest.

Apple's iPad to have ‘free run’ in holiday shopping season — Summary: Garter says that until Android can get its hardware, software and services act together, the tablet market belongs to Apple's iPad. — Apple's iPad is likely to be unchallenged in the tablet market this holiday shopping season, according to Gartner projections.

Sean Parker: Agent Of Disruption — Pointed toward his 18-acre compound in Marin County, Sean Parker rips through the night fog on the Golden Gate Bridge in a stealthy Audi S6 that masks a Lamborghini engine, one pale hand on the wheel, the other toggling through thousands of songs uploaded on the car's sound system.

New HTC users to get 5GB free Dropbox service — Microsoft has Skydrive, Apple has iCloud, and now HTC has Dropbox following a new partnership between the phone maker and popular cloud storage service. — HTC has confirmed to Pocket-lint that users of its latest Android handsets …

Where's Mango? An update on timing — Hi everybody. Given all the recent speculation around the timing of our Mango update, I wanted to bring you up to speed on what to expect next. — For months, we and dozens of our partner companies have been laying the groundwork for the Windows Phone 7.5 update—and making solid progress.

A New Gowalla — Nearly three years ago I sat on a beach at Lake Tahoe and watched as a large low-flying cloud hung above the lake, creating the backdrop for a beautiful weekend of solitude. As much as I enjoyed the time alone to clear my thoughts, I was overwhelmed with the desire to share this experience with someone.

LivingSocial Weighs $6B Funding Instead of IPO — LivingSocial may raise more than $200 million in funding that would give it a valuation of as much as $6 billion, rather than proceeding with plans for an initial public offering, people with knowledge of the matter said.

A Galaxy S Sequel With Big-Screen Ambitions — In the crowded and sometimes confusing market for smartphones based on Google's Android operating system, Samsung's Galaxy models have been among the best and most popular. Launched last year on multiple carriers, the Galaxy S models …

Sprint Capping Phone as a Modem to 5GB Starting October 2nd — And the cutbacks continue! We've seen ETFs increase, Sprint Premier go away, upgrade fees raised, what next? We can now add Phone as a Modem to the list. Our beloved Super Spies have been bringing the pain lately and today is no exception!

IVP Leads $7 Million Investment In Business Insider — Digital media startup and online news platform Business Insider has raised $7 million in new funding. The round was led by new investor IVP, writes the site's co-founder and CEO Henry Blodget. The company had previously raised funding …

The Fall Event — Mark Sigal asks a good question, regarding the lack of a September Apple “music event” this year: … If Apple could have made its iPhone announcement this month — September — I think they would have. I think they went into October because it took longer to get everything in order …